Calgary Flames head coach Bob Hartley has taken home the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach tonight in Las Vegas.

He becomes the first Flames coach to ever win the award.

Hartley and the Flames surprised many by finishing third in the Pacific Division during the regular season. Calgary then upset the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs before bowing out to the Ducks in the second round.

By qualifying for the playoffs, Hartley’s Flames ended a five-year playoff drought.

“You look at the unbelievable leadership from our veterans. You look at lots of young players coming in and stepping up right away,” said Hartley per The Calgary Sun when talking about his Jack Adams nomination. “You have to look at our management. You have to look at scouting. You have to look at my partners. You have to look at my staff.

“My nomination is more a result of the work of everyone in the organization. Johnny, Gio and Huds — they’re going to tell you that it has been a team effort also.”

With the NHL Draft just days away now trade talk between teams is picking up.

Arizona Coyotes’ GM Don Maloney holds the third overall pick at Friday’s draft and hasn’t closed the door on dealing the selection for the right price.

Bryan Murray told reporters in Vegas on Tuesday that he had conversations with Maloney about the pick.

“I always ask the question, but I don’t think that pick in particular is in play at this point for us,” Murray said. “I think where we’re picking back at 18, that would be hard for him to move that far no matter what price I paid, but we have to ask the question anyway.”

Murray is currently in the process of trying to unload either Craig Anderson or Robin Lehner. The Sens’ general manager said Lehner is getting the most attention at this point.

“People look at the price and maybe look at other things, but Robin Lehner is a hell of a goaltender,” said Murray. “He’s going to perform given a chance, whether it be him getting the chance right away either with us or another team, he’s going to be a good goaltender.”

Lehner is considered to be more attractive than Anderson based on cap hit. The 23-year-old has two years remaining on his deal with a cap hit of $2.225 million while Anderson has three years remaining at a cap it of $4.2 million.

“There’s going to be a couple moves. I think there’s three goaltenders really in play at the moment and there are a couple teams that are looking so what will happen based on that, I don’t know,” Murray said. “I think we should be the first choice.

“I think we’ve got the best guy. That’s my feeling and I’m very strong about that, but maybe not everybody looks at it that way.”

Zibanejad & Stone update

Murray met with Craig Oster the agent for restricted free agents Mika Zibanejad and Mark Stone on Tuesday in Vegas.

“We’ve made proposals once again and waiting on a reply I think they were going to talk to the players and see what happens,” said Murray.

The NHL Awards will be handed out on Wednesday and online bookmaker Bovada is predicting that it will be a very good night for goaltender Carey Price. They put the odds of him winning the Vezina Trophy at a staggering 1/100, which is actually to be expected given that he’s widely regarded as a lock to claim that award.

What is more noteworthy though is the 1/20 odds they’re giving to anyone that wants to pick Price as the Hart Trophy winner. Alex Ovechkin has 5/1 odds while John Tavares is at 10/1. Price was certainly regarded as a serious candidate for that award, but the clear favorite? As good as his season was, the league’s MVP award typically doesn’t go to a netminder, although it wouldn’t be surprising if Price proves to be one of the exceptions.

Keeping with the theme, Carey Price was also given the best odds to win the Ted Lindsay Award (2/7) over Ovechkin (5/2) and Jamie Benn (6/1).

Erik Karlsson is also favored to win his second Norris Trophy over P K Subban and Drew Doughty. Meanwhile Johnny Gaudreau is projected to win the Calder Trophy while Bob Hartley is the favorite for the Jack Adams Award.

He would have become a restricted free agent this summer after completing his two-year, $3 million contract. By inking him to a three-year deal, Calgary has also gotten his first two seasons of UFA eligibility.

The 26-year-old center is coming off of a trying campaign as he missed roughly two months due to an abdominal injury that required surgery. When he was healthy he recorded 10 goals and 27 points in 52 contests. He also averaged 17:44 minutes per game, including time in both power play and shorthanded situations.

Since being taken with the 24th overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, he has scored 51 goals and 128 points in 298 career NHL games.

The Flames still have a number of restricted free agents to deal with this summer, including Lance Bouma and Paul Byron.

There’s been some traction between the New York Islanders and pending UFA goalie Michal Neuvirth.

“Garth [Snow, Isles GM] and I had a positive conversation regarding Michal coming back next season to play for the Islanders,” Neuvirth’s agent, Patrik Stefan, told PHT on Friday. “The Islanders are a well built young team with a bright future. Although it was for short time, Michal enjoyed playing there and was impressed with the organization.

“Garth is well aware of what the UFA’s market for goalies this summer and he and I agreed to continue our conversation at the end of this month.”

Two, Stefan continued to insist his client is gunning for a No. 1 job.

“The bottom line is Michal wants to and is ready to be a starter next season,” Stefan said of the 27-year-old, adding that Neuvirth “will be one of the top goalies on the UFA list July 1st.”

If Neuvirth (.914 save percentage between Buffalo and New York last year) really wants a starting gig, it’s hard to see him going back to the Islanders. Jaroslav Halak seems firmly entrenched as the starter, coming off a year in which he finished fifth in the NHL with 38 wins, made the All-Star team and helped the Isles get back into the playoffs.

In an opening-round loss to Washington, Halak finished with a .926 save percentage and 2.30 GAA.

If Neuvirth does decide to go elsewhere, he’ll dive into a goalie market that’s flush with options.

On the trade front, several names are out there. Ottawa’s shopping Robin Lehner and Craig Anderson, and Vancouver GM Jim Benning revealed he’s getting calls on Eddie Lack and Jacob Markstrom. The Blackhawks have three goalies under contract; what could Antti Raanta fetch them? Would the Leafs trade James Reimer?

All this could have a major impact on Neuvirth’s goal of being a No. 1 next season.